Embattled consulting firm PwC swept up in global cyber breach

The spokesman said PwC had stopped using MOVEit as soon as it became aware of the breach, launched an investigation and spoke to clients whose files were exposed. Unlike previous major cybersecurity breaches at Optus and Medibank, PwC said its own network stayed secure.

Russian hackers have hit a host of major Western businesses in recent years, with law firm HWL Ebsworth dealing with the fallout of one breach. Cl0p also accessed data from mining giant Rio Tinto and Crown Resorts earlier this year via another third-party service called GoAnywhere in what is known as a supply chain hack.

“This is the invisible digital infrastructure that governments and companies use to get their information from A to B,” said Katherine Mansted, intelligence director at digital security firm CyberCX. “It would be very, very surprising not to see a few more Australian victims [of the latest hack] at least.”

Cl0p made its ransom demand on the dark web in early June with a deadline of June 14, suggesting client files could soon be published.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission confirmed it uses MOVEit but a spokesman said it had immediately secured the service. “We are satisfied there was no compromise of any information at any stage,” the spokesman said.

A spokesman for Cyber Security Minister Clare O’Neil said the government was aware of the MOVEit hack and ready to assist any Australian interests involved.

A spokeswoman for EY said it learned of the breach on May 31, when an American firm called Progress, which makes MOVEit, confirmed the vulnerability in its software. “We immediately launched an investigation into our use of the tool and took urgent steps to safeguard any data,” the spokeswoman said. She also declined to comment on the ransom demand.

The PwC spokesman said the firm’s investigation had shown its own IT networks had not been compromised. “Data security is a key priority for PwC and we continue to put the right resources and safeguards in place to protect our network.”

PwC bills itself as a safe pair of hands to assist other companies at risk of being hacked, spruiking its “community of solvers” who can help prevent or address breaches in five different areas.

The EY spokeswoman said most of its systems that use the transfer service were not compromised but the firm was manually investigating where data may have been accessed and communicating with customers and authorities.

Progress has said it patched the vulnerability within 48 hours, aided clients and drafted in some of the world’s top cybersecurity firms to assist in the response.

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